Ofsted risks put off school leaders, say heads

Over 50% of deputy and head teachers do not want to apply for further posts as school leaders, the National Association of Heads Teachers warns.

The association says many good candidates are put off headship by the demands of Ofsted inspections.

From September schools given notice to improve by inspectors will only have two more chances to improve standards before being put into special measures.

The NAHT says heads need time to turn struggling schools around.

Speaking at the NAHT annual conference in Harrogate, general secretary Russell Hobby said: “It’s three strikes and you’re out -you have to wonder who is going to take on a school with two satisfactory Oftseds [inspection reports] when they then have a 12 month window to turn around that school.

“If they’re going to take on those schools, they need to know they’ve got time and space to make those changes – otherwise we’ll just see superficial measures to get the headline figures up.

“It’s three strikes and you’re out.”

‘Russian roulette’

Meanwhile the incoming president of the NAHT and Yorkshire head teacher, Steve Iredale, accused ministers of playing Russian roulette with children’s education.

“Is it not time for governments, of whichever persuasion, to see the bigger picture and work towards the greater good for all children and the future economic success of our country rather than playing Russian roulette with their lives?

“You really do have to ask, does political meddling really have a place in our children’s learning?”

Mr Iredale was also critical of Ofsted and the chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw’s plans to introduce no-notice inspections from the autumn.

Currently, schools get up to two days’ notice of an inspection.

Mr Iredale also challenged ministers to work with heads “in an open and honest way” to develop policies for schools.

“I am fed up to the back teeth of policies which are clearly created on the back of a fag packet and are consequently damaging our health, that of our children and the future prosperity of our nations.”

In a statement, the Department for Education said the current problem was caused by an old funding formula used to allocate the budgets of the older academies.

“A small proportion of academies… receive funding based on pupil estimates, not pupil numbers. This is because of the way their funding agreements were written.

The spokeswoman added that the government was working to simplify the system and ensure that all schools were funded fairly in future.

‘Serious cashflow problems’

But Allan Hickie, a partner at UHY Hacker Young, told BBC News there were also errors in some of the government calculations.

“The increase in the number academies meant the government agency responsible for allocating the funding was swamped by work and this led to some of the errors.

“Some schools may not yet know they have a problem. It all depends whether their business manager has noticed they have been overpaid.”

Mr Hickie added that schools with tight cash flow could be seriously affected by having to pay back the money which could amount to 10% of their budget.

He said his firm was acting for one primary school that had been overfunded by £190,000, a sum that could pay for five teachers.

This particular school only became an academy last summer.

He added that about one in 10 academies would now have significantly less money than anticipated, and many would have already spent the money.

“It is difficult to see how that much money could be cut from the existing budget without adversely impacting educational standards.

“Significant adjustments to funding two-thirds of the way through the academic year can cause serious cashflow problems.”

He called for the Education Funding Agency, which recently took over responsibility for allocating academies’ funding, to ensure that future adjustments were kept to a minimum.

Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said the clawbacks were a symptom of confusion in the school funding system and feared it could even lead to staff redundancies at the academies affected.

“It will be a big blow to these schools and plans will be disrupted,” he said.

Heads warning over smart phone pornography

Parents must take greater responsibility for the material their children are accessing on computers and smart phones urge head teachers.

Some heads say pupils are viewing pornography and other unsuitable material on phones bought by parents.

Others say they increasingly see pupils as young as four re-enacting violent computer games in the playground.

The National Association of Head Teachers says parents need to be aware of the dangers of technology.

Speaking as the NAHT annual conference got underway in Harrogate, head teachers said they wanted more guidance from government on how to deal with pupils who have access to inappropriate material.

Pornography

Kenny Frederick, a primary head teacher from London, said: “What is a big issue in terms of mobile phones is parents buying their youngsters smartphones on which they can access pornography, anything, it’s something we have no control over.

“Parents have to take control. Trying to make sure parents understand the issues is a big thing.

“In terms of messaging and so on, we deal with the issues around that day in and day out. It’s a growing problem. Schools have a part to play, but parents have to take control of that at home.

“It doesn’t start in school, but it ends up in school and we have to deal with the fallout when there are allegations of bullying and so on down to the misuse of mobile phones and technology.”

John Killeen, a primary head teacher from North Yorkshire, said head teachers were increasingly aware of children having access to inappropriate software and films.

“They’re replicating the games. It could be combat fighting, kung foo attacks. They see people doing it and they think they can replicate that in play situations.”

‘Reclaim social media’

Stephen Watkins, a primary head from Leeds, said young children were often not able to distinguish between fantasy and reality.

“Four-year-olds don’t understand that if you hit someone over the head with a brick they’re not going to recover immediately and jump up – as they do on screen.”

But Sue Street, a school leader in Harrow, London, said it was important for schools to embrace modern technology.

“We’re encouraging heads to engage with social media,” she said.

“Using it and setting a good example is one of the best ways of stopping children and parents from engaging in some of the other elements of it.

“We’ve got to reclaim it [social media]… we’re hoping more and more heads will get involved.”

The NAHT conference will debate social media over the weekend and is likely to call for more child protection guidance from government.